Christopher Lee made well over 200 films in his storied career. Not all of them were great, of course, out of the 40 I’ve seen only a few of them are truly wonderful. But I love him just the same. From the late 1950s through the early 1960s he had a run of horror films that are just terrific. Many of them were made for Hammer Studios and I’ve talked about a few of them, but he made plenty of other films for other studios as well.
The City of the Dead was put out by British Lion Studios. It was directed by John Llewellyn Moxey who mostly did TV work (including the influential The Night Stalker in 1972). It is a slight, but evocative slice of gothic heaven.
Lee plays Alan Driscoll a history professor whose lecture on the New England witch trials intrigues his student Nan Barlow (Venetia Stevenson). Enough to make her want to take a trip there to get some first-hand sources. Driscoll recommends the small town of Whitewood and tells her to stay at the Blackbird Inn, where his name will guarantee her a room.
One fog-filled night she drives to Whitewhood. Along the way she’s warned off by an old man at a petrol station, then she picks up a creepy hitchhiker who magically disappears when she arrives and is met at the inn by the mysterious Mrs. Newless (who looks suspiciously like – and is played by the same actress, Patricia Jessell – as the woman we saw burned at the stake in the flashback sequence that begins the film).
Strange things are afoot at the Blackbird Inn.
I won’t spoil what happens next. Not that anything that happens is too surprising, the film’s plot is pretty standard stuff, but it has style to spare.
The town is in a constant state of fog creeping in. The buildings are all in disrepair, making it look ancient and decrepit. The cemetery with its crosses sticking out at odd angles sits in the center of town. The stark black-and-white photography gives it an eerie quality.
The townspeople are creepy as can be. Nan has a boyfriend back home, and a brother. She befriends one friendly lady in Whitehall. They all come looking when she goes missing, giving the film some needed action.
At just under 80 minutes in duration, it all goes down quick and smooth. I had a marvelous time watching it.
themidnightcafe.org 